HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS 34 YORK KNIGHTS 14
JOHN DAVIDSON, Accu Stadium, Saturday

HUDDERSFIELD have claimed their second win of the season, beating York off the back of a crucial Jacob Gagai brace of tries.

The Giants ran in six tries in this convincing Easter display, making it back-to-back victories after last weekend’s shock triumph over Wigan.

For the injury-hit Knights, it was their fourth loss in a row and one in which they were largely second best.

Huddersfield struck first, with a seventh-minute try coming from Adam Clune.

A misfired pass from dummy-half by Zach Woolford bounced and York’s Jesse Dee tried but failed to gather it, leaving Clune the space to stroll over.

And it took just three minutes for the Giants to add their second after Josh Griffin conceded a penalty before Tristan Powell fed Niall Evalds, who went past Ata Hingano to touch down.

The Giants were in no mood to ease off, and soon they had another try when Clune and Tui Lolohea combined to put Tanguy Zenon in at the corner, with the winger’s third conversion taking the score to a commanding 18-0 after 15 minutes.

Will Roberts had a try for York ruled out by the video-referee, who ruled on a prior knock-on.

But the Knights kept battling away, and finally had their reward eight minutes later, shortly after receiving a penalty when Roberts pounced on a lovely Ata Hingano grubber for a debut try, although he couldn’t convert his own score.

York’s confidence was growing and soon they were in again when Roberts fed David Nofoaluma, who rounded Gagai to score.

Roberts’ missed his second conversion attempt, leaving the margin at ten points.

But Huddersfield were on notice with momentum shifting to the visitors.

It remained at 18-8 as half-time dawned, however, with temperatures raised between the two sides with a skirmish between Griffin and Lolohea.

In the second half it was Huddersfield who started strongly as Gagai found his way to the line from a beautiful short pass by Evalds.

Zenon missed his kick, but the Giants again had the upper hand at 22-8.

York were not out of it though, and looked to roar back six minutes later when Paul McShane found Kieran Buchanan, who crashed through the defence to score, but Griffin had obstructed Lolohea and no try was the call from the video-referee.

The game was effectively won on 54 minutes with a sensational second solo try by Gagai, when he was fed on the outside by Oliver Russell and he danced on the outside, dummied to his winger and cut inside for a fine touchdown, with Russell making no mistake in extending the lead to 28-8.

Nikau Williams got a consolation try in the 68th minute from a McShane basketball-style pass over the top, but it was not enough to stop the inevitable, which was sealed when Zac Woolford intercepted a Paul Vaughan offload and raced to the line to seal the win.

GAMESTAR: Adam Clune had a hand in everything good that Huddersfield did.

GAMEBREAKER: Tanguy Zenon’s try gave the Giants a commanding position early in the game.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Jacob Gagai’s solo second-half score was simply sensational.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Jacob Gagai (Huddersfield)
2 pts Adam Clune (Huddersfield)
1 pt Zac Woolford (Huddersfield)

MATCHFACTS

GIANTS
1 Niall Evalds
29 Tanguy Zenon
3 Jacob Gagai
34 Connor Wrench
2 Adam Swift
6 Tui Lolohea
7 Adam Clune
16 George King
9 Zac Woolford
14 Fenton Rogers
11 Asher O’Donnell
23 Chris Patolo
8 Tristan Powell
Subs (all used)
4 Taane Milne
10 Thomas Burgess
20 Mathieu Cozza
32 Oliver Russell
18th man (not used)
22 Jack Billington
Also in 21-man squad
19 Kieran Rush
25 Jacob Algar
39 Jacob Douglas

Tries: Clune (7), Evalds (10), Zenon (15), Gagai (43, 54), Woolford (70)
Goals: Zenon 3/4, Russell 2/2

KNIGHTS
24 Will Dagger
46 David Nofoaluma
20 Oli Field
26 Nikau Williams
5 Scott Galeano
6 Ata Hingano
38 Will Roberts (D)
10 Paul Vaughan
9 Paul McShane
15 Xavier Va’a
11 Josh Griffin
12 Jesse Dee
29 Sam Cook
Subs (all used)
8 Jack Martin
16 Justin Sangaré
21 Kieran Buchanan
14 Denive Balmforth
Also in 19-man squad
2 Ben Jones-Bishop
19 Danny Richardson

Tries: Roberts (28), Nofoaluma (33), Williams (68)
Goals: Roberts 1/4

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 18-0, 18-4, 18-8; 22-8, 28-8, 28-14, 34-14

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Man of the Match
Giants: Jacob Gagai; Knights: Paul McShane

Penalty count: 5-3
Half-time: 18-8
Referee: James Vella
Attendance: 4,172